Nvidia's AI Dominance Faces New Challenge from 800-Volt Power Supplies

Nvidia remains the leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) data center chip market, selling $89 billion worth of data center silicon last quarter alone.

The company is still dominating the AI chip market despite alternatives like Alphabet's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).

However, when it comes to processing capacity, networking, electricity, and cooling in AI data centers, there's another aspect that has gone largely unnoticed: 800-volt power distribution equipment.

This technology is more power-efficient and cheaper to operate than traditional power supplies, costing about 10% less. Vertiv, a company known for its data center cooling solutions, is working with Nvidia to develop 800-volt power infrastructure for the latter's next-generation Vera Rubin accelerators.

Other players like Navitas Semiconductor and Texas Instruments are also moving in this direction. While it may take years for this transition to complete, there could be significant business opportunities in the future, especially considering that many data centers consume megawatts of power.